VGM
This article is about the audio format. For game music in general, see video game music, or see Van Gogh MuseumVGM (
Video
Game
Music) is a
audio format for multiple
video game platforms, such as
Sega's
Master System,
Game Gear,
Mega Drive/Genesis,
SG-1000 Mark III, and possibly many others in the future.
The normal
filename extension is
.vgm, but files can also be
Gzip compressed into
.vgz files.Technically,
.vgz files should be named
.vgm.gz, but because some popular
operating systems'
file managers cannot handle file name suffixes that themselves contain a dot,
.vgz is used in order to launch a VGM player (eg.
Winamp with the proper
plugin) and not a
data compression program such as
WinZip or
WinRAR.
On
November 20,
2005, VGM 1.50 was officially announced, and a new version of the input plugin released. The new version of the format now supports
PCM optimization for the
Yamaha YM2612 sound chip, what makes sound files using the chip a lot smaller - sometimes with over 75% of size reduction. The first YM2612 VGM archive,
Project 2612, optimized all of its packages soon after.
*
SMS Power! - Music Section 8bit music (official VGM format site)
**
VGM File Format Official specifications
*
Project 2612 The world's largest collection of Mega Drive/Genesis VGM Soundtracks
*
Zophar's Domain: VGM Archive (Sega Master System/Game Gear)
*
Play Game Music Sega SMS/GG VGM & Midi Music